Cross pollination among questions

I appreciate all of your responses, I truly do, I live in Southern New Jersey, from Boston and Maine originally, ( Maine is the Family Farm, everyone in the family spend's time there), I'm not a Shy Person, and Recently I went to nearby Farm's and asked what type of seed they used, this was around 4 year's ago, I was shocked to find most of the Commercial Farmer's in the area were using Round-Up Seed, I'm not trying to make this a Political debate, or anything more than it is, I love my 4 Organic Garden's, but I am concerned about cross pollination. I just recently Planted Organic Potato, they're already sprouting, I think I see an emergence of Broccoli, My Brandywine Beefsteak,s are amazing, and I just Planted Cauliflower, Nantes, Bloomsdale, Detroit Red's, and Cos, for a (Hopefully Abundant), fall crop, any other suggestion's would be appreciated.

Unfortunately several weed species, known as superweeds, have developed Roundup resistance largely because of repeated exposure.

This link will give one food for thought regarding the good/bad side of Roundup:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roundup_(herbicide)

A Google search on 'round up resistant weeds' brings up many links, too.

I would like to see labels list whether or not GMO's have been used in the production of whatever we are buying.

Ya know, I re-thought something I said above, and I think I was wrong.

In the veggies I deal with most, like tomatoes, there's no need to be concerned with possible cross-pollination unless you're saving seeds for the next generation. That is - a tomato growing on a vine of a certain variety will have all the characteristics of that variety, even though the seeds inside it may be crossed.

But that's not true with corn - because it's the corn SEEDS we're eating, not fruits surrounding the seeds. Gardeners have to be careful about planting different corn varieties next to each other because of cross-pollination problems that will affect THAT year's crop.

And I've even noticed that in tomatoes. When I crossed a variety that normally has small dark seeds with one that has large light seeds I got tomatoes in THAT GENERATION with seeds of the same appearance as the "father" plant. So I'm gonna say that when a cross occurs, fruits surrounding seeds are still of the present generation but the seeds themselves (as in corn) are already of the next. There's a profound thought, huh?

Good point, thats why sweet peppers can be hot if Xed with a hot pepper, the seeds (next generation) in the normal looking sweet pepper are hot even tho the pepper fruit looks normal.

Lisa, that's got to be right. I hadn't thought about it before, but if seeds inside a fruit are already of the next generation, then sure, a sweet pepper that got crossed with a hot pepper would have hot seeds.

That's kinda mind-blowing to me - to think that every seed in every tomato I harvest now, in 2011, is already a complete, live, 2012 tomato plant! The next generation starts when the seed forms, not when it's planted. Wow.

Great! I've killed more plants then even I realized. : /

Hah! You're killin' me, Lisa! :>)

I think those are excellent observations, ya'll, and I believe them to be true. Great going, great perspectives.

PappyG: >>"but I am concerned about cross pollination. I just recently Planted Organic Potato, they're already sprouting, I think I see an emergence of Broccoli, My Brandywine Beefsteak,s are amazing, and I just Planted Cauliflower, Nantes, Bloomsdale, Detroit Red's, and Cos, for a (Hopefully Abundant), fall crop, any other suggestion's would be appreciated."

No need to worry about crossing of your "organic" potato since you've not planted any other variety, and if you had they wouldn't cross unless you collected flower seed, which very few people do. You'll be saving, if you choose, your potatoes for your next crop for "seeding".

You only list one tomato, Brandywine (normally just called that, not 'Brandywine Beefsteak', by the way) so no chance of it crossing with another tomato.

All your other plants listed won't cross unless you leave them till next spring to flower. Hopefully by then you'll have harvested and enjoyed the good eats you have planted.

Hope this helps.

Shoe (still chuckling at Lisa's ability to kill plants before growing them...but it's true, eh!?) :>P)

Shoe-Ive even killed plants once I grew them, now I just have a whole new way to do it. (pout)

Horseshoe, I also grew, Certified San Marzano, Early Girl, Best Boy, Variety's of Tomato, and was Lucky enough to know some College Kid's who are attempting to bring back the True Jersey Tomato, the Rutger's, and grew some of their seed's this Year, NOW THAT'S a Tomato, lol...I tried some Grape Tomato's, B.I.... wasn't impressed really, anyone that has a really sweet suggestion for Grape Tomato Seed, Please let me know,Basically this year was an experimental hence the Four Garden's one was Strictly, seed testing.
I can't complain though, I'm eating my Celery, Tyee Spinach, Nante's Carrot's and Rothschild, Early Bull's Blood Beet's were amazing, some Cos, but a wet Season, Tomato's all season, Cucumber's and then Pickled already in the Jar, Corn was sweet but not full ear's, had trouble with corn early, after the Hurricane, and Tropical Storm, (a Week Apart), Thing's worked out ...I think I've eaten the Best String bean of my Life this year, just had some with dinner, a Haricot Verte, still picking 11 1/2 inch sweet juicy cucumber's, I'm doing something right and still a few thing's wrong I'm sure, but no Complaint's.

Sounds to me like you're having a good time gardening, PappyG. Go for it.

Glad to hear you survived Irene and the storms.

As for the "true jersey tomato", it's been back in production for several years now. You'll find it listed as Ramapo in many circles. "Rutger's" is its predecessor and you may like it also. Another Rutger's introduction, much better liked by many is Moreton. You should try them all. (I bet you'll like Moreton best but then again individual taste buds come into play here.)

Shoe

I do Love the Garden's, and I have tried Ramapo last Year, very nice tomato, I'll see the BOy's from Rutger's this year at the Philadelphia Flower Show, actually my Daughter is attending Rutger's this year, and Penn State next semester heading for her Veterinary Degree, anyway I will try the Moreton next season, any Ideas on a great Grape tomato Seed...???
I was sorry to hear that Landreth Co. one of the oldest seed houses in the country might be closing, I only met them last year. they have some amazing heirloom seed pack's, and how to grow section that's very informative. Thanks for the Kind Word's Horseshoe, any Suggestion's on seed's, especially Eggplant and Grape tomato's I'm all ears. Enjoy.

I know this thread has been dead a while but I just wanted to say thanks for everyones posts because they answered a question of mine.

I want to grow two different watermelons this year but I was worried the melons would be different if pollinated by each other. If it only affects the seeds for the next generation then thats fine with me because most of what I grow are hybrids and I rarely save seeds from my veggies.

I guess I should have known the answer already since I'm currently taking a genetics course :p oh well haha

*G*. Enjoy your watermelons....

Please also keep in mind, if you DO want to save seeds from watermelon or anything else in the cucumber family, it's very easy to hand-pollinate, and then bag your female blossom until the fruit starts forming.

Good reminder :)

That is the ONLY thing my makeup brushs get used for.

hmmm how odd, lisa, your plants wear makeup?

No, the brushes are used to hand pollinate my squash, melons and cukes. Lol

Hmm, "make-up ready crops".

What will plant genticists think of next?

well thats just silly, you need to use your hand to hand pollinate not the brush. i think you want to get rid of the old eyeliner and playing dress up with the zukes. lol

I was actually told to do that on DG, or a qtip. What do you mean use my hand? I get pollen from a male flower and pollintate all the female flowers that are open. When I do this I get a much higher rate of pollination and they are O/P so they come true to seed, so I can save the seeds and get a lot of cukes.

Sometimes I break off a male bloom and pollinate the female blooms with it. Most of the time I just let nature take its course.

So the zucchini I just harvested with the extremely hard skin/shell, firm yellow-ish flesh, and huge seeds is probably a hybrid? This is the third generation of compost volunteers, acorn, zucchini, and cantaloupe were what came up the last two years. The last zucc I harvested (from a different plant) was abnormally fat, but otherwise typical. I'll eat just about anything so I'm not upset, just curious what to expect next year. Will the seeds fruit be highly variable? The weather this year was odd, so flowering has been erratic. It started in May and I'm still getting flowers the last week of August. Also, has anyone had experience with squash send up new growth from the nodes (with flowers and tendrils) after fruit has matured?

Oh, I'm in SoCal now, North County San Diego, and not in Hawaii at the moment.

I found this forum when I googled, "cross between spaghetti squash and buttercup squash." I purchased a winter variety pack of squash from groworganic.com. It was supposed to contain spaghetti, butternut and buttercup. I have butternut and spaghetti squash growing but also had a mystery squash growing more than the other two combined and no buttercup ;( I have attached pics of it from a few weeks ago, many of them have since turned orange/yellow.)
I sent a pic to the company and was told it is probably a hybrid cross between the spaghetti and buttercup. I picked one yesterday to see what it is like inside, spaghetti like or solid. Haven't cut into it yet. I am disappointed that I ended up without any buttercups. I will have to see if this cross squash is any good to eat. Anyone else ever have this happen?

Agree that it is a cross. But NOT between a buttercup (C. maxima) and spaghetti squash C. pepo). Butternut is C. moschata. Three different species that don't cross under normal conditions. What ever it is happened before you got the seeds.

has anyone tried a cross of trombolini and butternut? If both cross pollinate,next year will the seeds from the cross pollinated trombolini be a different fruit from the seeds cross pollinated from the butternut,or both be the same kind of hybrid?

Are you familiar with the 'tic-tac-toe' sort of square that is used to diagram genetics? Called a Punnett Square.

http://anthro.palomar.edu/mendel/mendel_2.htm

That will explain that each parent donates genes for certain characteristics. Lets say you were trying to follow the color and texture of the skin of these squashes.

One parent might donate the tan-pink color and smooth skin.
The other might donate the speckled skin and bumps

The F-1 (first filial, or children) can only inherit these traits, but which is dominant? Which is recessive? I have NO idea. The F-1 generation will carry all those genes, and might pass some of them on to the F-2 generation. (Grandchildren of the original parents). This is where it really gets mixed up. You have only a few clues as to what was dominant and what was recessive, so only a few hints of what the F-2 genotype is like.

This is what Gregor Mendel spent a lifetime figuring out, using peas.

very interesting,the way genes are past down,could take quite a while to see just a few variations.even when you get one you like duplicating that again is hit or miss.thank you for the insight.